The heat is on

With the temperature rising up close to forty degrees I had to do what I could to protect the more delicate plants like the potted hydrangeas.  I hope the shade cloth will help a little. The young basils in the planter box I had covered with an old sheet.  I was going to get more shade cloth and build a frame work for the boxes but I did not think we could see a hot summer this season with all the rain we have been getting.  Maybe I will do something about it as it looks like some hot weather will be staying with us for a few days.

This big tree fern does not come under the shade cloth roof of my fernery at the south east end of the block.  I watered it well yesterday and may have to get up before dawn tomorrow morning to water it again.  It has been doing well since recovering from the scorching heat of summer 2009. 

The smaller ferns beneath the canopy of the two big tree ferns are doing well.  I have added a couple of hare's foot ferns, and others I have no name for, to the fernery since taking over this garden.  The bird's nest in the foreground has travelled with me through two gardens and survived being dug up and replanted, each time, even after twenty four years in my previous garden.

This frond is suffering from the heat and the only thing I can do is to wet it when I can.  I was going to cover the fronds with wet sheets this morning but decided against it as the heavy sheets might break the stalks.    Sometimes I would just have to prepare myself for some losses.